PDO file

locally and internationally.

Burger King are not the only fast food franchise who are promoting Cyprus’ traditional white cheese abroad. McDonald’s have also included burgers with halloumi in their menus, while halloumi is always on the breakfast menu in local restaurants.

Renos Andreou, General Manager of McDonald’s Cyprus said that McDonald’s around the world have occasional promotion campaigns which include a halloumi burger in the traditional pitta bread.

“Halloumi burger promotion campaigns did well in countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait. Halloumi did well as a part of the breakfast menu in Australia where Halloumi is already known,” said Andreou of McDonald’s.

Giorgos Petrou, CEO and founder of Alambra Dairy Products, producers of the halloumi for the Whopper, said that new byproducts are a big portion of exports.

He said that they are producing products such as halloumi chili, haloumi with basil, lactose-free halloumi and halloumi with organic milk.

Petrou said at least 40% of halloumi exports are byproducts, and these exports would be lost overnight if the traditional description of halloumi was applied.

He said the Dairy Products Manufacturers Association had calculated in 2015 that losses would have been around 60% if the ingredients had been applied then.

“Out of 21,125 tonnes of halloumi exported, only 9,850 would have left the country’s ports,” said Petrou.

More than 6,500 families depend on the halloumi industry, as the raw materials come from the Cypriot agricultural sector.

“It is a pillar of the rural economy and helps sustain life in our agricultural areas,” said Petrou.

He criticised the Ministry of Agriculture and the state for not paying the necessary attention to promoting and protected the halloumi brand.

“The market is growing and demanding new innovative products, and the ministry did not take this into consideration when it put forward the PDO file to the European Commission.”

He added that there is no need to include in the file that halloumi must be sold folded, or to include such a high percentage of sheep or goat milk.

Petrou said that the ministry presented a file to the EU, which foresees that Cyprus halloumi milk percentage should be at 51% goat or sheep milk by 2023, without drawing up a road map as to how this change will be applied.

“2023 will come along and we will have to make the change overnight, which will not go down well with customers around the globe. Goat’s milk is an acquired taste,” said Petrou.

He said that the government should reconsider the file and make changes taking into consideration the interests of all stakeholders and the economy, so that not a single drop of

milk is wasted.

Sources from the Ministry of Agriculture expressed disappointment with the stance of the dairy producers, saying that on the one hand the producers demand the designation of the product, and on the other hand they themselves are violating the designation.

“We are currently not exporting halloumi, but halloumi byproducts.

“However, we cannot demand from producers in other countries, especially EU member states, to respect our protected products while we violate the description of the product,” said an official source.

Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis told CNA this week that the government has a roadmap to facilitate the increase of sheep and goat’s milk.

Kadis said a major European research project is underway at the Institute of Agricultural Research, which “aims to increase sheep and goat milk through genetic improvements and other activities in order to reach the desired quantities described in the Halloumi File”.

He added that “quantities have increased in recent years through the Ministry’s efforts, but not to the extent desired”.

On discontent over halloumi’s PDO file, the minister said the technical examination of the file has been successfully completed but it is stuck due to a political issue, arising from Green Line regulations and how halloumi made in the north of the island will be traded.

“In any case, the petition is pending before the EC and we expect that they will have to give an answer sooner or later,” Kadis said.